The Great Gratitude Surprise

The Great Gratitude Surprise is a celebration of the research gathered from The Playing with Gratitude Project. This wellbeing project now has over 4000 people, across Australia, playing with gratitude every day.

The author, Rod Soper, was inspired to write this children’s picture book after hearing some of Australia’s leading psychologists state that the biggest threat to children’s lives, by the time they reach high school, will be their mental wellness. In response to these messages, Rod felt an incredible responsibility to look for ways to counteract this growing concern and to help find ways to fortify professional and parental resolve to build strong mental health foundations early in life.

“Early and middle childhood is the perfect place to start laying these cornerstones, as our whole lives – from our values and self-worth to our ability to self-regulate and socially connect – are formed in this life stage” says Rod Soper.

The Great Gratitude Surprise harvests the powerful connections that surge between the astonishing influence of play and gratitude and offers an inspiring platform for children, teachers and families to build upon their mental wellness through an exciting tale of curiosity and discovery.

The Great Gratitude Surprise is an adventure Sammy and her family have after finding hidden treasure while on their beach holiday. Together they embark on a wonderful gratitude journey learning, new things about each other and their family.

“I loved this book so much! It has a really great message about gratefulness and being a family. It is very important to be grateful and this book can remind and teach us how to do it. The characters are great and the plot fantastic. I really enjoyed reading it and can’t wait to read it again. Grace Winspear (aged 11) – daughter of Marta Dusseldorp (mum).

Rod, the co-founder of Thinkers.inq and the chief researcher of The Playing With Gratitude Project, has been a teacher for over 20 years, sharing his love for literature with people from 2 to 82. He particularly loves guiding young people into their own journey of discovery which can be found in the world of books. Rod is also an international speaker and an inspirer of hope in his fellow teachers and industry leaders.

The many children from the Playing with Gratitude Project have inspired him to write not only this book but two more like it, as another way to play with gratitude and help wellness flourish.

We are also very excited to announce that Early Childhood Australia value playing with gratitude. You can find an inspiring webinar on the ECA Learning Hub and The Great Gratitude Surprise on sale in their online bookshop or you can purchase your copyright here.